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These have been briefly considered under the word BIBLE, but as the subject is important more detail is here added, confining attention however to the N.T. 'Readings' must be distinguished from different 'translations.' Thus, for instance, the Revised Version omits a part of the verse in John 5: 3, and the whole of the verse in John 5: 4, placing it in the margin with the words, "Many ancient authorities insert wholly or in part, 'Waiting for the moving of the water,'" etc.
As such alterations may cause surprise and uneasiness to simple
students of scripture, who believe in its verbal inspiration, an effort is here made to elucidate the subject.
In the first place it must be observed that such variations as the above, and all "various readings," belong to the Greek text, and do not refer to translation. It is easy to see that the same Greek words may be translated differently by different persons; but the 'readings' refer to different Greek words being substituted; or words may be added by copyists in various MSS, or words or sentences may be omitted as in the above instance from John 5: 3, 4.
It must be borne in mind that from the time the New Testament was originally written till about A.D. 1452, when printing was invented, copies could only be multiplied by being written with the pen, and that all the ancient copies are in manuscript, and all vary more or less from each other, no two copies being exactly alike. This is not to be wondered at when we consider how difficult it is for lengthy subjects to be copied without mistakes being made; and if they are not discovered and rectified, it can easily be understood how the errors would increase — each copyist adding to the list. Therefore the more ancient the manuscript the more value is placed upon its readings, not that any particular one could, however, be followed entirely.
Printed copies could only be made from the manuscripts, and it is not now known what manuscripts were used for the early printed Testaments.
The COMPLUTENSIAN Edition was the first to be printed: it was finished with the O.T. in A.D. 1517, but was not published till 1522.
In the meantime the learned ERASMUS brought out his first edition, with a Latin translation (on which he had worked for years), in 1516. It was done in great haste, Erasmus being urged on by John Froben, printer at Basle, so that it could be issued before the Complutensian. The book was gladly hailed by those who desired the light of the word of God, but was strongly opposed by many of the papal clergy. Next to Wycliffe's edition of the N.T. in English among the people, stands Erasmus' Greek Testament among the learned as an instrument used by God in forwarding the Reformation
in England. Bilney, Tyndale, and Fryth, three English martyrs, trace their conversion to reading, under God's enlightenment, Erasmus' Greek Testament.
The Editions of STEPHEN, a printer in Paris, followed. The first in 1546, and his most renowned one in 1550 (the one generally reprinted in England as the commonly received text), it was the first to give readings of the MSS in the margin; a fourth edition was issued in 1551, in which he had divided the text into verses. This reminds one that there is no authority for the divisions of chapters and verses, though they are very useful for reference.
The ten Editions of BEZA followed, the first in 1565 and his last in 1611.
The ELZEVIR Editions came next, in 1624 and 1633. The latter is the one which is called the textus receptus, or 'the text received by all': "textum ergo habes nunc ab omnibus receptum." It is the one commonly reprinted on the continent: and is the same in the main as that of Stephen reprinted in England, there being only about 287 minor differences between them.
All the above editions are very similar, but at this period more attention was called to the variations in the manuscripts, and they were carefully compared, with the laudable aim to discover what was the text as it stood originally .
MILL's Edition appeared in 1707. He had laboured for thirty years in his work: he reprinted Stephen's 1550 edition, and gave the fruits of his research in notes and appendix.
BENGEL's Edition followed in 1734.
WETSTEIN's Edition was published in 1751-2. He had increased the material by which the common text could be improved.
GRIESBACH's Edition followed. His principal editions were in 1796-1806, and a smaller one in 1805. He was the first who altered the commonly received text where he judged it to be incorrect. He laboured to classify the Greek MSS and arranged them in families to
indicate where they had apparently been copied from one another, or had followed one recension.
SCHOLZ's Edition came next in 1830-36: it is not reliable.
LACHMANN's principal Edition was published in 1842-50. He confined his attention to early Greek MSS — not later than the fourth century, though he did not keep rigidly to this rule. He wholly set aside the "received text."
TISCHENDORF's Editions followed: his last, the eighth, was issued in 1865-72. He laboured many years in his work, and, in searching for more manuscripts, was rewarded by discovering and issuing the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the most valued copies, though erroneous in many places.
TREGELLES's followed. He also laboured many years and collated more manuscripts; but he confined his attention to ancient copies. It is dated 1857-72.
ALFORD's came next, but is not remarkable for fresh critical matter.
WORDSWORTH's followed. He is distinguished by his conservatism. He believed that God had overruled the issuing of the commonly received text, and he kept to that except where he believed that the Greek manuscripts and other evidence warranted him in making an alteration.
WESTCOTT AND HORT are the last to be mentioned. Their principle may perhaps be said to be the very reverse of that of Wordsworth, altering the text freely where others have hesitated. It dates A.D. 1881.
The REVISERS of 1881, J. N. DARBY, and others, who have translated the Greek Testament have either chosen one of the above texts, or selected for themselves what they should translate, without, however, issuing the Greek separately. The Greek Testament with the Revisers' readings was issued by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1881.
In Dr. Scrivener's Cambridge Greek Testament, 1887, all the readings of Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and the Revisers, are given in the notes. The readings of these Editors with those of Alford and Wordsworth are also given in an appendix to the Englishman's Greek Concordance. The readings from Griesbach to Wordsworth are also given in the notes to the Englishman's Greek New Testament. These collations are judged to be all that in an ordinary way is needed by most Christians.
It is deemed needful to add as a caution that Dean Burgon (in "The Revision Revised") brings serious charges against the Revisers of the New Testament in that they deviated from the instructions they received in regard to their translation as well as to the Greek text they adopted, and that they followed too often the venturesome readings of Westcott and Hort; also in throwing needless doubts upon many passages with the words "many ancient authorities, etc." in the margin.
This is to be regretted; but it all the more confirms the wisdom of Wordsworth in keeping to the common Greek text except where there is good authority for leaving it. And may it not also be added, amid so many English translations from different texts, that it is better to keep to the text of the Authorised Version (which with few exceptions follows the commonly received Greek text) except where there are godly reasons for differing from it.